Pretend we're someone else

As important as it is to embrace our unique selves, a powerful approach to developing creative solutions is to imagine we're someone else. (Contradictions can be fun.)

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This has a liberating effect on our brains — taking "hopes" and "fears" and putting them up on a shelf for a bit, where nobody will trip over them.

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It's called "counterfactual thinking." It's a "what if" style of ideation where we reflect on how different actions or circumstances might lead to different outcomes.

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So, instead of thinking about how we would solve a problem...

• Think about how our biggest competitors might solve it.

  
  

• Consider how a historical figure might approach the issue.

  
  

• Imagine how a child, with their unfiltered view, would tackle the challenge.

  
  

• Picture how someone from a completely different industry might handle it.

  
  

• Imagine how our future selves, blessed with more success, experience and wisdom, might deal with it.

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Thinking in this way unlocks insights and ideas that our "regular selves" never would — as unique and wonderful as we are.